A beautiful day in More London in the Pavilion suite of this global accountancy firm. Inspiring panoramic views of Tower Bridge and City Hall make this a fantastic learning venue. Into the room normally used by the most senior managers, walked 13 people and their work coaches from Crisis.
The remit was to understand what is involved in putting together a bespoke cv. Not an easy thing to do when employed and enjoying a stable personal life. So much more difficult when life has dealt a few heavy blows including unemployment and homelessness.
We kicked off with a quiz on the purpose of a covering letter/e-mail/cv? When does an interview starts? How we unwittingly set ourselves up to fail etc.
An exercise in what cows drink showed how important it is to prepare! A session with post it notes and where they come on a cv – top, middle or bottom – followed before the group split into two and produced their image of who they would and would not employ! By now experiences were being shared and conversation was flowing.
We then touched on a good vs bad example of covering letter/e-mail – easy to miss some key points.
The last part of the workshop focussed on Application Forms and how they differ from cvs and we briefly touched on interviews. There was some difference of opinion on these! At the end we did some impromptu cv advising.
The delegates included a Law Lecturer, a Telecoms Engineer and a Quantity Surveyor as well as IT Trainer and Receptionist!
The jewels that are uncovered when we scratch the surface and see individuals not their labels jaw dropping.
Evaluations included:
‘It was very helpful. I now know several thins to make my cv better’
‘This workshop improved my confidence in my ability of writing a good cv’
‘I learnt some new tactics on constructing a bespoke cv’
Going forward, we will consider an all day version adding more depth to each section and role play as well!!!
A big thank you to Kevin who gave me his copy of Big Issue – a great read.
Jane James's Consultancy Limited 